Director, First Year Experience
Louisburg College

Maleeka Love is from Kalamazoo,Michigan, and she started working at Louisburg College about this Fall. She is the new Director of First-Year Experience and the Academic Success Center. She lives in Youngsville, North Carolina with her Yorkie, Buddy Love.

Love says that she "absolutely love[s] people and helping others reach their fullest potential. [She] does not take lightly the opportunity that [she] get[s] to work in higher education to serve [her] students, [her] campus, and [her] community. She is a licensed liturgical dance minister, which means that she graduated from ministry school and learned how to use dance praise Jesus! She has published two books, related to ministry.

When asked who is someone she admired and why, her response was deliberate and thorough. She said, "Wow, there are so many individuals that I admire and that have helped to transform me into
the life that I get to live today. For the purposes of this newsletter, the one person I would have to mention is my sister, Dr. Toni Woolfork-Barnes, is who I admire. She is not a biological sister, but my sister by choice. I consider her family, because she has treated me like family for over twenty plus years I have known her. We originally met while I was in high school, a part of a pre-college program in which she was the director. She quickly became my mentor, and while I was in college, she became my first boss. After I graduated with my undergraduate degree, she hired me for my
first professional role in higher education, and the rest is history! She is the reason that I decided to go to college, remain in college, excel in college, and go on to help others to do the same. She is the epitome of compassion, integrity, encouragement, servant leadership and love, that is why I admire, Dr. Toni Yvette Woolfork-Barnes.

At a very young age, Love knew that she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. She remembers, how as a child, " My classroom was my walk-in closet and my students were my dolls and stuffed animals." She really enjoys working with students, and hopes that her colleagues and her students find her "relatable, approachable, and accessible."

Love's big hopes for her first year at Louisburg College include helping create model first-year experience programs at LC. She wants us to know that, "I am considered an introvert, however, I enjoy engaging in conversation and getting to know others because every human is special and there is nothing like the human connection!"

Fun fact about Maleeka Love: She has not owned a television for about seven years!
She tends to watch online shows only.

Currently reading: Handbook for Training Peer Tutors and Mentors by Karen Agee
and Russ Hodges, recommended by our very own Dr. Bonnie Suderman.

Welcome to Louisburg family, Maleeka Love!